Rhea's legs buckled as the figure in silver stepped from the Veil — graceful, quiet, like a blade sliding from its sheath.
The face… was hers. Not the broken shadow. Not the half-remembered versions from past lives. Her face. Whole. Timeless. Terrifying.
"What are you?" she asked, voice cracking.
The silver figure smiled. "I'm what you become when you stop lying to yourself."
Isaac surged forward, summoning a blade of pure light — the same weapon he'd used to tear her soul from death for centuries.
The figure raised one hand.
And shattered him.
Not just his body — his presence. His existence in the Veil.
"He was a fool," she said. "He thought you were his to protect. But you were never his."
Jace stepped in front of Rhea, jaw tight.
"You're not her. You're what's been feeding off her for lifetimes."
The figure tilted her head.
"No. I'm what's left when she dies and doesn't come back."
Rhea screamed.
Everything hit her at once. The twenty-six deaths. The voices. The pain. The choices.
She didn't just live them.
She remembered them.
All of them.
Each one had been real. Each life loved, lost, torn, and buried — because someone else decided she wasn't done yet.
But now... she was done.
And for the first time in twenty-seven lives… she chose herself.
"No more chains," Rhea whispered.
She grabbed Jace's hand.
Power surged through her veins — not borrowed, not stolen, not gifted.
Claimed.
She turned to her mirrored self.
"You're not me. You're my past. My fear. My trauma given form. And I'm not your cage anymore."
The silver figure lunged.
Rhea didn't flinch.
She stepped into the Veil — and absorbed her.
Not fought. Not destroyed. Accepted.
And just like that…
Silence.
Rhea opened her eyes.
She stood alone.
The church was gone.
The Veil was gone.
The world… was new.
Jace appeared beside her, blood on his lip, but alive.
"What did you do?" he asked.
She looked at her hands — glowing. Steady. Finally hers.
"I ended the cycle. I'm not the 27th soul anymore."
"Then what are you?"
She turned toward the sunrise.
"I'm the last."